Itztli (Scion)
The Itztli Purview is specific of the Atzlánti Pantheon. Overview Maguay Sting *Dice Pool: None *Cost: 1 lethal health level By piercing her flesh with a maguey thorn, an obsidian blade, a surgical scalpel or even just a rusty straight pin, the Scion sheds a portion of her blood. This blood serves as a token offering to her divine parent, who rewards her with a single point of Legend. The Scion may perform this sacrifice only once per day. Combat Sacrifice *Dice Pool: None *Cost: 1 Willpower The Scion stands unflinching before her raging enemies, sacrificing her safety in the name of her Legend. In combat, the character spends a point of Willpower to psych herself up for an action that might seem damn foolish. The player then sacrifices points of DV against an incoming attack, effectively making the character easier to hit. She can sacrifice no more points of DV than she has dots of Legend. If the attack hits her as a result of this reduced DV and inflicts even a single point of damage, the Scion receives a number of points of Legend equal to the DV penalty she forced upon herself. (Only those points of DV the player intentionally sacrificed count.) The character can use this Boon as many times as she wants in combat—if she’s a masochist—but the granted Legend points cannot exceed the character’s standard maximum. Obsidian Mutilation *Dice Pool: Conviction *Cost: 1 lethal health level per Legend As with Maguey Sting, the Scion ritually sheds her blood and receives a concomitant reward in Legend. Unlike Maguey Sting, though, this sacrifice doesn’t top out at one health level and one point of Legend per day. If her player succeeds on a Conviction roll, the character may inflict as many health levels of lethal damage upon herself as she wishes, earning a point of Legend for every health level she suffers. (These points may exceed the normal maximum, but any extra points disappear after one week.) The character may perform this ritual only once per week. Obsidian Excruciation *Dice Pool: None *Cost: 1 lethal health level per Legend point Having proved her devotion to the Atzlánti, the Scion no longer need give of herself in sacrifice. As such, the Scion may use Obsidian Mutilation (Itztli •••) on a mortal, titanspawn or fellow Scion instead to reap the Legend reward. To do so, she ritually sheds a measure of the victim’s blood sufficient to cause levels of lethal damage and then burns that blood as an offering. Doing so gains the Scion a point of Legend per level of lethal damage she inflicted. (These points may exceed the normal maximum, but any extra points disappear after one week.) The victim must either give his blood willingly or be under the Scion’s control somehow—be it mind control, drugs or just being strapped down, squirming, on a frigid autopsy table. The blood that is burned must be fresh, which means that the Scion must ritually burn it in the action immediately after she gathers it from the victim’s body. The Scion may make this sacrifice only once per week from the same victim. If the Scion’s ministrations kill her victim, or if she kills the victim in combat, she may also remove and burn the victim’s heart as an offering to the Atzlánti. She must do so within one hour of when the victim died, and she must burn the whole heart. When she does so, she receives five Legend points and one Willpower point. Sacrifice of Will *Dice Pool: Conviction *Cost: 1 Willpower When the Scion contemplates a goal that is important not only to her, but to the Atzlánti—such as defending a temple from the titanspawn or thwarting a competing Scion from a different pantheon—she may give herself over to the Gods temporarily in pursuit of that goal. To do so, her player rolls the Scion’s Conviction and spends one Willpower. If the roll succeeds, the player gains a number of bonus dice equal to the Scion’s (Conviction + Legend) to add to rolls that directly pertain to the pursuit of her goal. She may also add bonus dice equal to her Conviction to resist persuasion that would sway her from her goal without spending any Willpower points, and regardless of how many times she’s already done so in the same story. Those two benefits last for the rest of the scene. Also, any time she successfully inflicts damage with an attack in combat during the scene, she receives a point of Legend. The downside of using this Boon is that as soon as the benefits kick in, the character immediately suffers the Fanatic Zeal Virtue Extremity, and it lasts for the rest of the scene—until the Scion either achieves her goal or irrevocably fails to do so. What’s more, if the Scion does fail to accomplish her goal by scene’s end, she loses all of his leftover Willpower points. Poco a Poco *Dice Pool: None *Cost: 1 aggravated health level per 5 (or 6) Legend The Scion performs a substantial sacrifice and receives a greater reward of Legend points for it. To do so, she removes an irreplaceable part of a victim’s body and burns it in a ritual dedicated to her divine parent or the Atzlánti in general. Each part she removes inflicts one level of aggravated damage and earns for the Scion five Legend points. As a general guideline, each hand and foot is worth one aggravated health level. Each arm from shoulder to wrist and each leg from hip to ankle is worth another aggravated health level. Each eye is worth an aggravated health level, as is the tongue. The male genitalia are worth an aggravated health level, as is the removal of a female’s ovaries and uterus (in toto, not individually). The pitiful body that’s left over after all those parts are removed is no longer suitable for sacrifices in the name of this Boon. It can still be killed and sacrificed in the name of Obsidian Excruciation, though. The Scion may take the body part that is to be sacrificed from a mortal, titanspawn or Scion victim, or she may remove the part from her own body. (Sacrificing from one’s own body nets six Legend points per aggravated health level. It also becomes increasingly difficult the more you do it.) The catch is that the Scion must remove and burn the body part herself, and the subject from whom she removes it must be alive at the time. The Scion can remove and store the body parts she wishes to sacrifice, but if the victim should die before she manages to go through with the act, burning the body parts does nothing for her beyond making room in the freezer. The Burning Heart *Dice Pool: None *Cost: One heart In an awful, gruesome display of power, the Scion tears the still-beating heart from a living victim and stuffs it into her own mouth. When she swallows the throbbing morsel down, she then slices open the skin of her chest and tears it back to reveal her blood-spattered ribcage. Only her heart is visible within, and it bursts into hellish red flames that cannot be doused. These flames also glow in the Scion’s eyes and from within her mouth. For the rest of the scene, the Scion’s effective Legend rating rises as follows, based on the victim’s Legend’s relation to the Scion’s: Victim Legend Boost *No Legend rating +1 *Equal or lesser Legend +2 *Greater Legend +3 This increase pertains to any Boons or Knacks whose effects are determined by the Scion’s Legend. The maximum amount of Legend points the Scion can have increases as well, and this enlarged Legend pool is filled upon ingestion of the victim’s heart. Under this effect, the Scion cannot fail Conviction or Courage rolls, nor can she even attempt to suppress her Conviction or Courage. Finally, the Scion’s player adds a number of bonus dice equal to the character’s (unmodified Legend + Itztli) to any Presence rolls made to intimidate others. When the scene ends, the character’s torn-open chest seals over once again as the fire burning within goes out. She huffs out a cloud of foul-smelling black smoke and returns to normal at last. Reception of Sacrifice *Dice Pool: Charisma + Legend *Cost: 1 Willpower When a member of the Atzlánti becomes a true God, he becomes entitled to a share of the power the Atzlánti receive from sacrifices performed in their honor. Blood shed in his name empowers him, and he takes a cut of any Legend granted to any of his Scions for using hero- and demigod-level Itztli boons. He need only take a deep breath and let the power flow into him from far away. Communal Divinity *Dice Pool: None *Cost: None The Atzlánti don’t necessarily believe that true strength comes from the combined efforts of a whole community, but they do understand that no individual is any more worthwhile than his peers. Therefore, ownership of their divine power is an alien concept to these Gods. Knowing that their divine work is done is more important to them than who’s doing it. As a result, a God of this pantheon can freely transfer Legend points to any other God, regardless of pantheon. Doing so requires only that the Gods commingle their ichor in some way—from a wet kiss to a handshake between two slashed palms. The exchange is considered a miscellaneous action (Speed 5, DV -2), during which the God using this Boon can transfer as many Legend points to the recipient as he sees fit. These granted Legend points cannot exceed the recipient’s maximum. Familial Sacrifice *Dice Pool: Conviction *Cost: 1 Willpower It is no small matter to be a member of a God’s family. Someone like that is significant and important, and therefore makes for a richly rewarding sacrifice. If ever a God should lay his hands on one of his siblings, parents or offspring, he stands to reap a thriving harvest of Legend points with a single stroke of the knife—provided he brings that knife down himself and in his own name. For this act to be its most meaningful, the God must have performed no other Itztli sacrifices on the victim in question (though the victim can have performed them on himself). For his character to commit the act, the God’s player must spend a point of Willpower and succeed on a standard Conviction roll. Failing the roll means that the God cannot bring himself to harm this member of his family for some reason. He cannot psych himself up to use the Boon again for one full year. If the roll succeeds, the God goes through with the sacrifice, killing his victim and drinking at least a double handful of the victim’s heart’s blood. On doing so, his Legend-point maximum increases for one year as follows: (* Includes any children conceived with a mortal partner before the character reached God status, as well as potential Scions whom he has not granted a Visitation and who have not been formally adopted by other Gods). This act also fills the newly enlarged pool. A character can perform only one such sacrifice per year, though he can try again with a different victim if his player fails the Conviction roll with one specific person. Also, it behooves the would-be murderer of his divine parent or offspring to be aware of whether his victim has any 11-dot Boons or supernatural Stamina. The latter can make it damnably difficult to actually perform the required ritual murder. (If the victim has the ability, the intention and the necessary points to use Ultimate Stamina to return from the dead, the sacrifice won’t work even if the murderer can put his victim to death.) The former can make it impossible if the murderer can’t withstand the fury of the Purview’s avatar unleashed. References * Category:Scion pantheons Category:Atzlánti